Her Smile

I thought I'd taken a better picture of this layout and cropped it but, I see that it is just so so. Look past my photography skills and I hope you enjoy the layout.

I had some pictures taken with Hailey in November. The one in which she is holding my finger and smiling is one of my favorites. I also, love her hat.

I made this layout when I was in Arizona. It started out as a one page then I decided to use the second picture and add another page as I had lots of elements and embellishments I wanted to use. The rose were made from the scallop circle punch, crumpled and layered up. There has been a lot of tutorials on this rose in blog land.

Supplies: My Mind's Eye, Bazzill, Prima crystals, dimensional fluid

I wish I had the patience

I've always admired Cathie Allan's work in both Stamp and Scrap and Canadian Scrapbooker magazines. I just don't seem to have the patience to stamp or 'stamp'book her way. However, after watching her new videos on YouTube about the release of her new position it tool .... I just might have to try. I especially love the video on stamping on black cardstock and using the white acrylic paint .... brillant1

Check out all 8 of the videos {HERE}

My little beauty and Arizona.....

Hailey and I have been in Arizona for the last week. We flew in on Tuesday the 9th to visit my Mom and StepDad, who spent the month of February down here. The weather was cooler when we first got here but since then the sun has been shining and it has been so nice to have some vitamin D shining down.

Since, I have been here I have managed to do 4 layouts for myself. So, the month goal of scrapping is meet however, since not getting much down on the card front. We've done a little shopping ... there is a scrapbook store that is the flagship store for Bazzill it is 10,000 square feet of paper, embellishments, stamps and goodness ... however, there wasn't any core cardstock to be found anywhere ... LOL

Pictures are from November when Hailey was just 4 months .....

Supplies
Patterned paper - My Mind's Eye Bella Bella
Cardstock - n/a
Letters - Thickers
Flowers - Prima
Paint - Ranger
Rhinestone design - Prima
Rhinestones - Dollarama

MNC Sketch Challenge #3

This time it was my turn to be one of the designers that took on the Sketch Challenge at the http://www.mondaynightclass.ca/ blog {I Love Mondays}.

I love how this layout turned out and all the different patterned paper that I used from Upsy Daisy.  I then pulled out all the brown and green butons from a package of Basic Grey Buttons from the Infuse line ... and paired that with some eyelet grommets from SU. 

Visit the blog post at I Love Mondays to see what Christine did ..... we both used a similar theme.  On the blog, you will also find the sketch to give it a try yourself! 

Ian leaves for a job in the NWT again on Friday morning and then on Tuesday (the 9th), Hailey and I are jetting off to Arizona to hang out with my Mom and Stepdad as they pretend to be snowbirds for a months.  Ian hopefully will only be a couple of weeks this time ...... worst case is a month .... way better than the 2 months in the fall!

Adore

Blog titles are so much easier as a scrapbooker!  This is one of the four! layouts I have completed so far this month.  Of course, all 4 are for Hailey's album.  I love this one.  It started out based on the My Mind's Eye blog challenge  #7 {HERE} However, apparently I didn't read or remember the whole post as you were to use 3 photos for the challenge with the sketch .... yeah as you can see I only used 2 so I didn't get to enter it into the contest which was to win some of the new collections from the CHA release.  Oh well, I got a gorgeous page.  I think one of my blog readers will really enjoy this layout.  {Love you! Mom/Grandma!}

Anyhow, majority of things on this page are papers from MME, Life Stories collection, Prism cardstock, American Crafts Thickers and KaiserCraft Pearls.  The rose is covered with dimensional fluid, not sure if you can tell from this.

Friday is stamping with the Calgals!  I hope I get my 2 cards done so I can fulfill my monthly goals.  I have started a counter on the right side bar to keep me accountable on my personal crafting goal.  So, far the scrapping is complete.  Looking forward to sharing an awesome layout that I did for the MondayNightClass.ca blog sketch challenge that is going to be posted on February 1st. 

I don't know about everyone else but I am loving what I am seeing coming out of CHA this year.  I really need to stay away from the stores though as 1) I am making maternity leave wages and 2) I have enough paper in the basement to scrapbook everyday for the next 10 years and not run out .... though I probably wouldn't have the right color! LOL

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

A single rose .....

I tend to color an extra image when I am working on a project especially something with Copics, you never know what is going to happen. I've been known to spill on my image or drop something on it to ruin it. So, when I was coloring this image with my Copics for our 2010 Calgals Calendar - I wanted to be sure I had a spare. Well, I didn't need the spare so I made it into a card right away.

Supply info: Copic markers, Atyou Spica pen, stamp by stampabilites, paper all SU, black rhinestones and white satin ribbon

I had a great weekend, scrapbooking with some friends.  I worked on some stuff for my class sponsored by Monday Night Class that I am teaching at the Okotokos Scrapbooking Convention on March 6th and then on Saturday, I cropped for myself all day.  I got there after 11 so I had 11 hours available though I did go shopping for another hour.  I managed to finish one double page layout and two single page layouts.  I need to take photos very soon and post.  That means my scrapping goal for the month has been meet but I haven't meet my goal on the card side, good thing the Calgals on meeting on the 29th ... I think this will have to be my 2 card night.

Calgals 2010 Calendar

I talked about my Calgals group the other day and then back in December I did post my take on one of the months that I did. I did February and November ..... Merlie just put together a post with all 12 months shown ..... go take a look at her post: The Calgals 2010 Calendar.

I truely love the calendar and I am glad we did it even though I was pressing myself to get it done. Thanks to Nancy for organizing it.

Sam's Page

Hello ..... second blog post with a project this week. I am on my way ..... nothing here is new though just projects I made last year that I never blogged! I am happy to say that I should be creating something new this weekend. I am going to go scrap Friday night and Saturday at a cropped hosted by Scrap 4 it, a great not for profit organization by my fellow MNC design team member, Jennifer Roswell. She also does Crop 4 Kids which is already sold out for March 2010! Way to go Jen.

Anyhow, about my layout. I made this layout for my girlfriend, Carmen using Sam's announcement card. It is hard to believe that Sam is now 11 months old ...... he 1st birthday is next month already.  Carmen and family moved from Airdrie to Spruce Grove as her husband was transferred with the RCMP.  I really really really miss them.  We've been friends since Grade 1 and when we were both pregnant thought we'd have a lot more time together while on maternity leave.  I hope to get up to Spruce Grove to visit them really really soon.  I then framed it in a shadow 12x12 scrapbook frame for her. The paper by Best Creations did all the work.   I just added the cut out zebra and rhino from another piece of paper plus photo mat, photo and the big blue circle brads.  Hope everyone is having a great week.  I'll report in at the end of the weekend and let you know if I was creatively successful!

The Calgals

I talk about my stamping group of friends a lot.  I do have a link to all their blogs on my right sidebar but, I wanted to do a special post and request everyone go check out these talented girls.  Gals like Allison and Nancy update their blogs daily! 

Allison – Stampin’ When I Can
Dianne – Little D Creations
Merlie – Cherish My Fetish
Nancy – Nancy’s Creative Mess
Shannon – Live, Love, Laugh and Stamp (ME)
Tracy – Tracy’s Happy Place

So, your probably wondering how we came to be and why do we call ourselves ‘Calgals’.  Well the story starts with Nancy, I meet Nancy a long time ago and Nancy also knew Tracy – back in 2007 blogging started to be come the big thing perhaps even sooner but I got in on it at the beginning of 2007.  Anyhow, Nancy wanted to get some gals together and she asked myself and Tracy to come over and also asked Allison as we had gotten to know her through her blog but had never meet.  We all meet I think it was July or August 2007 for the first time.  I remember it was before my wedding and I thought in the summer but perhaps it was sooner maybe Nancy will correct me.  So, we started out as 4 gals stamping in Nancy’s basement.  Soon after that Nancy started working at the Scrapbook Pantry and one her fav customer’s was Merlie and her two little girls so, she asked us if she could invite her over one time ….. and then their was 5 at the same time Dianne came over with Tracy one time so we could sort out some dewdrops from a share – we loved her so much we became 6.  I look forward to our monthly nights, I try not to miss them even if I know I am not going to create a thing.  I love catching up with these women and their lives – back in August, they insisted I bring Hailey to our first stamping night since she was born.  Well, I think I was the only one that showed up with stamping stuff as it was a surprise baby shower for us!  These women are inspirations and a very important part of my life, both in friendship and papercrafting. 

Oh, the name Calgals ….. that comes from Allison.  She has a thing for naming everything …… seeing we are the Gals from Calgary – Calgals works – it much better than the option of Cowtowngals or Cowgals (Calgary’s nickname is Cowtown) – Calgals is definitely more acceptable.

That is how the Calgals came to be and how the became so important in my life!  We have spiralled into a group that now trades off who brings a challenge, food and a Starbucks run!

I think we need a picture so that I can scrapbook about this group!  I’m going to have to bring my camera when I know we ALL are going to be in attendance!

Allison rocks ......

I am singing the praise of one my Calgal friends tonight, Allison fixed my blog banner. I changed the background and got a new banner yesterday but I couldn't get the banner to display. I could see that the file was loaded but it wasn't viewing so, I knew there was something wrong in my html code. Well, I've got an engineering degree however, the lowest marks on my transcript are English 100 (no big suprise) and Computer Science 100 (I thought I wasn't even going to pass this one if it weren't for a classmate, the entire final exam was foreign to me!) so, basically I didn't understand Fortran and C+ I knew that HTML code was beyond me too.

I sent an email to my Calgal blogging friends asking for any ideas. Allison seems to be our resident guru of figuring things out. I gave her my password and off she went fixing. She found a fix on how to do it {here}. So, if you can't load a new blog banner or are having problems visit this blog link and it explains how to fix it up.

Anyhow, I hope you all go visit Allison's blog - I am sure you know it 'Stampin' When I Can'. I won't see Allison until the end of the month at our next Calgals night - then I can thank her in person ..... I bet I should make her a card ..... oh boy ... that is a lot of pressure!

I think I failed already ....

I posted last Sunday and well low and behold it is Sunday again ... or it is Sunday as I start this post with 10 minutes left in the day .... I doubt I will get this post done fast enough to consider it Sunday .. oh well, my intention to blog is here. My reason for not blogging sooner ..... the new Super Mario Brothers Wii, seriously this is the most addicting game. I am suppose to have the Wii for Wii Fit but I've been on my A$$ playing Mario. This game is the best game out since the original Mario for the orginal Nintendo. I was addicted then at 12/13 and 20 years later here we are again. Ian and I have been managing to play together and haven't hurt each other yet. He is a tad competitive and I have to remind him a lot that it is a GAME!

Anyhow, on to my layout.



This picture is of my niece, Katelynn when she was about 2 years old and Grandma Rita had just given her new rubber boots and rain coat, she had to go out and try them out ....... the title 'Splash Boots' is because that is what Katelynn and Cooper have always called them. Guess you know what they like to do in the puddles.

The paper and letters are by Piggy Tales. I love Piggy Tales paper but they are a one print run company so I can't use them to design kits as by the time Monday Night Class goes to order the paper after my designing the paper is out of stock at the distrubitors. This is really too bad as I designed an awesome (if I do say so!) kit last year with Piggy Tales but then we couldn't get the paper.

It is now 12:05 am ... not quite Sunday but not bad!

Happy New Year!

2010 is upon us. Remember 10 years ago when the world was going to end as it was feared the computers etc wouldn’t roll over…… seems like a light year ago. 2009 was a great year for the Tompkins’ household. Welcoming Hailey into our family has forever changed us, I have to say that I love my husband today more than I did last year and each day that I see him grow as a father brings us closer together as a family and couple. The year leading up to July 9th (Hailey’s birth day) was a hard one, I never thought the nausea and all day sickness would ever end. Even though I ended up with a c-section, really the only memories that remain with me aren’t the surgery or the recovery but day after day of gagging and vomiting.

The first day of 2010 has been bittersweet for the Tompkins’ household. On New Year's Day at 6:30 pm Atlantic time, we lost Ian’s Grandpa Tompkins after a long battle with kidney disease. Grandpa Ron was a extraordinary man, a veteran of World War II and a retired principal. He will be greatly missed by the family however, we are happy that he is no longer suffering. I first met Ron, in December 2005 when I first visited Ian’s grandparents in Antigonish, NS with Ian. At the time, both he and Grandma Flo were living on their own, at 88 and 86 (yes, folks Ian is the 3rd generation of Tompkins’ men to marry an older woman). We are very glad that we were able to go to Nova Scotia at the beginning of December and visit Grandpa Ron one last time. This picture is of Hailey and the only Great Grandfather that she was able to meet.



I am not one to make New Year’s resolutions. Ian asked me if I had a resolution the other day and I responded, ‘My resolution is to love my family and make the most of the 6 months I have before I go back to work’ – he didn’t think that was much of a resolution and perhaps it isn’t as Ian is very goal outcome orientated as most engineers are … that resolution does not give you any end result. So, then he asked if I had any goals for 2010. Well, I think do have a few of those. First, I want to revitalize my blogging life. So, my personally goal is to blog at least 2 times a week. Secondly, I want to set a both a monthly stamp and scrap goal. I find it funny I teach all the Copic classes at the Scrapbook Pantry and I think I have 3 cards displayed in there. So, my personally goal is to scrap at least 2 pages a month and make at least 2 cards a month. I know this aren’t very lofty goals but if you’d seen what I’ve done in the last 16 months you’d understand – oh wait you have as you’ve read this blog or lack of blog. Anyhow, this goal is outside my designing for www.MondayNightClass.ca and my Copic teaching at the Scrapbook Pantry. This goal is all for me, my personally crafting which I haven’t been doing enough. Thirdly, I vow to attend as many Calgals events as possible this year and to post the card from our sketch challenge on my blog right away (ok within 2 days – who am I kidding!)

Anyhow, these are my ‘goals’ in my little craft world. I am sure they aren’t what Ian was getting at but, what does he know!

Before I show you a card I created I want to tell you about one of the new things at the blog for www.MondayNightClass.ca – our blog name is I Love Mondays (I personally love the name cause the only way I could possible love Monday's is when scrapbooking is involved). The designers (including Cindy and Christy) will be taking an older kit and creating a sketch from that kit then 2 designers will be posting their rendition of that sketch. The first MNC Sketch Challenge was posted today, this will take place on the 1st and 15th of the month. My first official page will be up on Sketch Challenge #3 but I hope to play along with the majority of them. I think it is a great idea and shows a whole new take on the kits, they just aren’t a one time thing, the are an idea for another page as well as a sketch for a whole new page. Christy posted a 2 page layout today and Kim posted a 1 page layout as well on the first sketch challenge. Make sure to check out their work and the information on the new challenge by clicking HERE!!!!

On to my card, I think I made this card at one of the last Calgals I was at before I had Hailey I am pretty sure it was June (and I was the size of house). The image is airbrushed and I coloured and airbrushed this at my Copic class in April when I taught airbrushing to the class. I think the Sketch was by Merlie though I don’t remember where she got it from and I’m too lazy to go back through her blog posts to figure it out. (at least I can admit it!)


Details
Stamp: House Mouse – Stampabilities
Paper: SU Rich Razzleberry and Orchid (I think)
Misc: SU embossing folder, Brides Flowers from Mike’s, SU Rich Razzleberry ribbon, Copics plus airbrushing system, Plum KaiserCraft pearls

*** Newsflash that probably everyone knows but me! Did you know that Dollarama has the pearls and rhinestones that look exactly like KaiserCrafts ones. There are 23 in total I think 16 rhinestones and 7 pearls well at least that is all they got in Regina. My Mom got some and then went back and got a few for me in my stocking but they were sold out of most however, we went to the south Regina Dollarama and I was able to get all 23. They are divine!

So, this is post #1 of the week – see you back here in a few days. I forgot to also say make sure to check out the new kits that were released on today from www.MondayNightClass.ca!!!! I don’t have any up there but the ones that are up there are awesome. I think my favourite is ‘Ahhhh’ as I am dreaming of a beach right now but ‘Deck the Halls’ would be great for the holiday pictures!

I'm back?

This is one of my contributions to the calendar that my stamping friends (The Calgals - look for link on right sidebar) put together. We each had 2 months to make, Nancy coordinated us! I had February and my birthday month, November. The only rules were 1) no month on the layout and 2) size had to be 8 1/2 x 5 1/2.

I really like how this turned out and the whole calendar is awesome! Everyone out did themselves.

Since, I last posted Ian has come home - we spent a great week together at the end of November then on the 30th of November decided we should visit his sick grandparents back in Nova Scotia and flew out a few days later but we had already booked going to Canmore for Dec 1st and 2nd ... so we did that, were home for 2 nights, took the red eye to Halifax on Dec 5th i.e. early am Dec 6th ... ended up overnight in Toronto and instead of arriving at 7 am Sunday morning we got in at 6 pm Monday evening so much for a direct flight .... we flew back on Monday the 15th and then today Monday the 22nd have driven to Regina for 2 weeks...... the cat is starting to hate us ... thank goodness for the greated cat sitter in the world!

Here is a great picture of my 2 favorite people while we were in Dartmouth at Ian's parents .....

p.s. I had to remove my layout 'In My Daughter's Eyes' as it is out for publication! Very exciting!

p.s.s. Make sure to check out the I Love Monday blog in the new year ..... well right now too ... exciting new things coming!

Christmas with Copics

These are the 3 cards I designed for my Christmas with Copics class that I taught earlier this month at the Scrapbook Pantry. It was a lot of fun, I keep the cards simple as I really wanted us to focus on the coloring of the images and not a lot of complex cards. We did a lot of fading out to white technique on these cards. I am pretty sure most had never used their blender pen so much.

The Calgals are coming over to my house tonight as I've had to miss the last couple with Ian gone. It's a little easier on me to put Hailey down in her crib as she is at the age now that bedtime has to be in her crib. I am looking forward to seeing the girls. It is my turn to the challenge for us. I am sure we all with have something to post really soon. Then on Saturday am, I am teaching a Copic Techniques class at 9 am at the Scrapbook Pantry. Hopefully, I will have enough of a voice to get through the 3 hour class as I don't think I mentioned I am suffering from a cold/sore throat and have that sexy cracking voice going on.

New Love ....

I did this one pager when I went to Delbure and the Fawn Meadows Bed and Breakfast with some friends last April. The picture was taken in our neighbourhood of Kincora in August 2007, just before our wedding in September. The layout was actually for Christy's Scrapbook 201 class that she taught in April/May. The challenge was to create a layout starting with a blank sheet of cardstock. I choose to go with white glossy and sponged on some Tim Holtz distress inks (tattered straw, aged burgandy) The chipboard was embossed with distress embossing powder than sanded. Chipboard is by RiffRaff Designs out of Edmonton. The letters are from American Crafts Thickers, they are chipboard letters that I sanded over. The flower is an old one I have from Prima with a brown curdory button by Imaginasce.

I spent a week in Saskatchewan (Nov 11-18), I went to visit my family as it seemed Ian was going to be away still and I didn't want to spend my birthday alone. However, on Friday night about 10:30pm - Ian appeared at my Mom's. I thought it was just my Mom and StepDad coming home from friends but when I turned around there was my husband staring back at me. I was shocked and then in tears I was so happy to see him. Unfortuanly, he was only with us for 40 hours then was back on a plane to Yellowknife to catch a charter back to site in Wrigley on Monday morning. Regardless, it was awesome to see him. He thinks he should be back out on the charter on Monday so hopefully at home on Tuesday until at least January sometime. He is going to take a couple weeks off to spend with us and even send me off to scrapbook in Delburne again with the Scrapbook Pantry staff ....... I'll miss Hailey but after having my husband home only abut 8 days in total since Sept 25th I know I need the break. I'm glad I have a husband willing to give me the break.

Memories .....

Well its not the best picture but it is hard to get a picture of this layout with all this glitter. But, this is the full picture of the single page layout that I taught yestrday at the 2nd Annual Jingle Bell Crop by http://www.mondaynightclass.ca/- it was an awesome time. 24 gals took this class from me and after 2.5 hours we all were covered in glitter. Thanks to everyone that was there for being so good about me having Hailey with me. Ian being gone has been hard but great friends make it easier on me. Especially the angel that is going to look after Hailey so Momma can go have a massage on Tuesday.

Sneak Peek

This is a little sneak peek at the Mini Class that I will be teaching at the 2nd Annual Jingle Bell Crop this week hosted by www.MondayNightClass.ca. The crop is sold out! I always love the JBC as Cindy and Christy put on a great spread, there are lots of goodies and I haven't even mentioned the food yet. I hear Cindy has a new treats for us to taste. So, much for watching what I eat!

We will be using lots of glitter and sanding a lot of Coredinations paper. Looking forward to seeing some great scrapbooking friends.

Simply Beautiful

I thought I'd come by and post on my blog seeing as Hailey is nicely asleep. Time change has caught up to her and I realized she fell asleep on the floor just before 7 which to her little body is still 8.

It was a gorgeous day in Calgary however, the wind was up a little because of the chinook that blew in. Hailey and I walked down to the grocery store, didn't realize how bad the wind was until I had to walk into it all the way home which is uphill all the way. The big hill into Kincora sure put the burn into my legs as I pushed the stroller up. I guess I need to do some more daily walking now that my body has finally recovered from the c-section. I found that 6 weeks after the first 6 weeks to be a big harder than before they gave me the all clear.



I made this Scrapbook page from the Oh la la line from My Mind's Eye. It is a really gorgeous line. I made this layout back at the end of August on my first scrapbooking outing adventure to Christy's with Hailey. Hailey wouldn't really settle so I really only got this one page down all night. I hope to start posting on my blog more regularly. I seem to be getting my space back in order, Hailey's getting into more of a routine (definitely not a schedule but definitely a daily routine). It's been a long year from the time I found out pregnant to now. The newborn was definitely easier than the pregnancy.

Anyhow, www.MondayNightClass.ca 2nd annual Jingle Bell Crop is this coming weekend. I hope my babe behaves so I can get some work down, I will be teaching a small class too. Ian's been away for a week and half now hopefully he will be home within the next 2 weeks.

It's official!

Wow! A month has gone by since I last posted - where did October go ..... Ian has been away most of the month (home for about 6 days in the middle of the month) so, I've been very busy with Hailey as of course, she is now almost 4 months old and needs Mommy to play with her. She is sleeping through the night and has been for the last couple of months but seems to only cat nap through the day.

The title of this post is because - my www.Mondaynightclass.ca kits are released. The had to be delayed a month as not all the product arrived on time but this month I have two kits up. (see the HERE) - my kits are 'When I Grow Up' and 'Family Time'.

Also, I thought I'd share a couple pictures of my little ladybug from yesterday. I think I will have to dress her up again today or tomorrow for more photos as I didn't get enough and these once aren't the best quality. I really need to work on my photography skills.

In my Daughter's Eyes

Well, I thinks it's official - we need to change the name of this blog to Live, Love, Laugh and Scrap or maybe Scramp! As I do stamp still just not all that often.

LAYOUT REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION


This is might be my favorite layout I've ever made! I absolutely love it. I was driving down the road the other day listening to the radio and Martina McBride's song 'In My Daughter's Eyes' came on the radio. I thought those lyrics were the perfect journalling for this photo of myself and Hailey. I knew it had to have butterflies on it. Well, when I was at the The Great Scrapbooking Carnival by Canadian Scrapbooker - I saw this template by Crafter's Workshop that I bought well over a year ago. I knew that with some glimmer mist and this template - I would have the perfect layout. I also found the butterfly flower stem by Prima at one of the vendors there. So, when I got home I got to work late Friday night - My intention was to enter the layout in the layout contest on Saturday at the show. I didn't win but this layout did get noticed so that made me feel pretty good!

I am off to Saskatchewan tomorrow morning to hang out with my Mom for about 12 days and be home for Canadian Thanksgiving.